Readings in a test pit indicated another waste tank at the Hanford site might be leaking, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced Friday.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz notified him of the potential leak personally the night before. According to a release from the governor's office, workers detected elevated radiation during routine pumping outside double-shell tank AY-102. The site then assembled a team of analysts to study the source of the contamination and whether waste from the tank leaked into the environment. Federal and state experts confirmed the condition does not pose an immediate threat to human health or the Columbia River.
Indications of a leak in the tank's inner wall were first detected in October of 2011, according to King 5 News, but at that point the second wall was assumed to be intact. That leak was confirmed in late 2012, followed by the news early this year that six single-shell tanks have been losing liquid.
Tank AY-102 is among 28 double-shell tanks built between 1968 and 1986 to hold some of the waste from older single-shell tanks, according to the Department of Energy.